Cover Report
Countdown To The 2003 South Pacific Games
Capital Suva buzzing with people
Millions of dollars and months of efforts later springs off the board June 28 to July 12 as the real test not only for the athletes but for the South Pacific Games Organising Committee.
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Almost 5000 athletes will converge in Fiji making this the first South Pacific Games (SPG) event that will marshal athletes from all of the South Pacific Games' 22 member countries. Top that with Suva's population of 80,000, and its mayor Chandu Umaria estimates the city, which has heavily consumed over F$6 million of the Suva City Council's resources for SPG groundwork, will be crawling with more than 90,000 people.
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Being a commercial city as opposed to the tourism belt, Suva might not have sufficient hotel rooms to cater for visitor numbers during the SPG. Room capacity, including the Pacific Harbour area (about an hour's drive from the capital) stands between 1500 and 2000. And the hotels within the Suva-Pacific Harbour corridor whether for sundry or games purposes, says Fiji Hotel Association chief executive Olivia Pareti, are booked out.
Pareti said: "The SPG committee itself had taken UTC to handle their hotel booking side.
"They had concerns with their officials, who are not being part of the games village, and it's encouraging that other avenues are opening up such as homestays around the Suva area."
Despite fears of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS and global security issues, the games go on.
SPG Organising Committee (SPGOC) chairman Dr Robin Mitchell has other concerns, but is not downplaying the impact SARS has had on communities in Asia though.
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Mitchell said: "The effect of SARS on major games has resulted in the cancellation in areas where SARS is prevalent. To bring SARS into focus, there's only 30 countries where there are positive SARS cases reported.
"Most of our feeder groups are not from SARS infected countries. So in terms of epidemic, I'd worry more about diarrhoea, influenza, food poisoning and dengue than SARS."
Should there be any known critical case within the Pacific, contingency plans are in place with respective health authorities to deal with it and the SPG committee would subsequently be guided by those plans.
The Arafura Games in Australia was the only major sporting event in the Pacific region to have been cancelled as two thirds of the athletes were expected from Asia.
The SPG organising committee has been liaising with the Fiji Police to provide the essential security for the games with the military providing the usual backup.
A few senior police officers at least have had experience with multi-sport security during the Sydney 2000 Olympics and have been involved in providing consultation for SPG games security.
"There'll be police in all training and competition venues," Mitchell said.
"The idea though is not to have too much of a uniform presence but to be there in numbers that are reassuring to the public and visitors as well."
As far as international games go, drug testing is compulsory. A group from the world anti-doping agency comprising of high profile athletes from Canada and the Pacific will be in the country to run educational programmes for athletes.
Some countries have requested that blood testing to be conducted in Fiji as facilities are lacking in some of the 22 participating countries.
Prominent benefits of the games are the sports facilities built with a $F25 million grant from the Chinese government.
The complete facilities include the 3000-seat Multi-Purpose Sports Complex, National Aquatic Centre (two swimming pools), synthetic athletics tracks and the National Hockey pitch.
The upshot is that a blanket number of the Fiji community will benefit directly or indirectly from the games, also dubbed the 'Safe Games' because of its HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.
The Safe Games group has promised a quarter of a million condoms, although Mitchell believes the majority might not be used for what they're intended for. "I know in Manchester a lot of it was used for water fights."
Tourism and local businesses stand to gain also from the multi-sport event.
Overall boost to Fiji's economy is projected at 5.1 percent growth in Gross Domestic Product.
The 12th South Pacific Games, twice held in Fiji 1963 and 1979 at the then Buckhurst Park although sufficient for the time, is as big as the Manchester Commonwealth Games. It has more sports - 32 altogether.
It's also the first privately funded games. Ten private sector sponsors: ANZ, FINTEL, Shell, Telecom, Colonial, Punjas, Post Fiji, Courts, Vinod Patel and Coca Cola have splashed out a collective F$7 million to subsidise the organisation of the games and Team Fiji. That's not to mention the Fiji government's contribution of F$19 million and an additional F$3 million from official suppliers, nominated producers and the President's Club.
Mitchell provides reassurance for the games: "We have pre-games problems that are no different to any major games like this. We'll have plenty of hiccups. That's normal. With games like this you'll find that people want to come on board for different reasons. It's a good opportunity to launch protests or strikes. It happens at every games.
"We've had problems of one kind or another since 1987 with the Kanak issue. There were armoured tanks on the Anse Vata Beach (New Caledonia); 1991 was the security issue in Papua New Guinea; 1995 was the anti-nuclear protest and 1999 almost never happened because Guam had political problems between sport and government.
"We're used to it and we deal with the issues as best as we can."
With all the preparation the South Pacific Games Organising Committee has undergone, it aims ultimately to present, as its mission statement says: "The Pacific at its Best".
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